Washington’s Brown Library plans to seek a Library Services and Technology Act NC Cardinal grant in an effort to help its patrons receive materials from libraries in the State Library system.

A presentation on NC Cardinal will be made to the City Council during its meeting Monday. NC Cardinal is an alliance of North Carolina libraries that share on online catalog and an integrated library system.

The Beaufort-Hyde-Martin Regional Library is a member of NC Cardinal.

The State Library pays the total cost for the first two years, including shipping; then Brown Library begins cost sharing with the other members. After the first two years, Brown Library would pay an estimated $1,800 per year, according to a memorandum from Gloria Moore, Brown Library’s director, to the mayor and City Council.

Applications for the grant funds are due Feb. 28, 2014. No local matching funds are required.

“We currently pay Library Corporation $13,916 annually. This would be a savings of $27,832 in a two year period. The State Library will pay for the shipping of library materials for 6 months as they investigate the cost of this service,” reads the memorandum.

Library patrons would be able to place holds (or make requests) for materials from any of the associated libraries.

“The system will provide the patron’s home library materials first. If there are no available copies in the home library, it will look farther afield. Brown Library patrons would be able to request materials from any of the Cardinal libraries. Those libraries would receive the request as if the patron were their patron and ship the item to us for pickup. The patron can then return it to the owning library. The State Library covers the shipping cost,” reads the memorandum.

Brown Library patrons could also walk into any of the Cardinal libraries and check out materials using their home library cards. The circulating library will accept any Cardinal library cards.

“If Brown decided to become a member, the project manager would discuss with the Library Director when would be the best time to migrate Brown Library’s data. Once that is established, State Library will negotiate a price and send us a grant agreement … and an agreement between Brown and Equinox for the migration,” reads the memorandum.